It Must be the Postal Strike...

How many applicants for EU Presidency are there? I hope that the post fulfills the equal opportunity legislation...

Well, I'm still unemployed as you probably guessed, but, determined to better myself and get a job, I've applied for the EU Presidency. I don't know if this sounds a bit audacious, but as far as I know, if you don't try, you don't get, right? Fortune favours the brave, right!?

I know I'm not as qualified in international war, sorry, I mean, international relations, as Tony Blair, but, you know, the last few years I've been to Rome, Assisi, Venice, Barcelona, Seville, Morocco and, of course, I've been on a day trip to Dieppe as well, once or twice. I even spoke a bit of french there. When I was little my mum and dad took me to Switzerland and Camping Cala-Go-Go in Spain I think, or was it France. Oh well, they're all foreign places so they're all the same aren't they? All in all, I'm something of a Europhile.

I don't know how many applicatations the EU has had, but, from what I know of EU legislation, equal opportunities are a big thing. So how come, when I type 'EU President' into Google Images, all I get is loads of pictures of Tony Blair. Honestly, it is almost as if he's got the job already! That said, I know to the EU, equal opportunities is important and its vital that there is a level playing field in getting this EU President job. For instance, the LGBT community might be upset if a transgendered/big gay man/lesbian lady/bisexual was not considered. So, on my application I bigged up my sexual history, saying that basically, after a bottle of wine or two, I am anybody's. I think that will help my cause no end...

In my application I stressed that I was an outside contender but that I would be fresh blood in the European leviathan, sorry democracy, that I would be tough on expenses and tough on the causes of expenses. I think now that Metro has reported that Sarkosy's shower alone cost the EU £250,000, they might want to have a crack down on the gravy train mentality and I'd be the man to cut costs.

Also, I mentioned that having never been involved in a massive illegal war and sanctioned the dropping of huge bombs on vast swathes of a soverign nation on a misleading premise of WMDs, I might be considered reliable on the world stage. You know, an unknown quantity, but not tainted by a bloody war which destroyed my credibility on home soil and integrity in the eyes of both God and man.

I made a big thing of my Catholicism, like Tony does, but suggested in my application that I was more sincere in the pursuit of my faith because I would never have voted to have unborn babies killed in the womb at any stage. Also, I stressed that while I am a poor sinner seeking the mercy of God, I thought that the whole gay civil partnership was something of a black mark on Blairs premiership in the UK since it seems to have the effect of corroding respect from true marriage between one man and one woman and presents to the world a new kind of family which is destructive for children adopted into it, the institution of the family and society as a whole.

I mentioned that I can do accounts as well, which I know will go down well, what with all those expenses claims for hotels, the massive security bill and flights around the World telling people about man-made global warming (sorry, climate change). I told them that, having nearly completed a Pitman Training Centre program in Brighton in basic accounting, that I could save them loads of money by totting up my own expenses so they wouldn't have to hire a book-keeper on my behalf. I also stated my experience in gardening so I could save them a few bob or two as well, since, should I become successful in my bid for the EU Presidency, I will do my own gardening on my vast tract of land.

I know how much the EU cares for the poor so I drew attention to the fact I help out every now and then on the soup run in Brighton. The EU, with that vast wealth and all that money swimming around the corridors of power are dying to set up facilities to help the very poorest in societies all around Europe. This is reflected in the kind of policies that emanate from Europe such as the standard correct shape of pickled gherkins. These are important matters and you can't help European peoples until there is a uniform shape and size of food stuffs. Everyone with sense knows that.

I'm yet to hear back...It must be the postal strike.

Dawkins Hates the Catholic Church...What a Surprise!

Meanwhile, Damian Thompson has drawn his readers attention to the latest paroxysms of Richard Dawkins, this time in The Washington Post. My comments in bold, orange...

Q: The Vatican is making it easier for Anglicans -- priests, members and parishes -- to convert to Catholicism. Some say this is further recognition of the substantial overlap in faith, doctrine and spirituality between the Catholic and Anglican traditions; others see it as poaching that could further divide the Anglican Communion. What do you think?

A: What major institution most deserves the title of greatest force for evil in the world? (The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science?) In a field of stiff competition, the Roman Catholic Church is surely up there among the leaders. The Anglican church has at least a few shreds of decency, traces of kindness and humanity with which Jesus himself might have connected, however tenuously: a generosity of spirit, of respect for women, and of Christ-like compassion for the less fortunate (Get it?! Catholic Church = Bad, Anglican Church = Not quite as bad!) The Anglican church does not cleave to the dotty idea that a priest, by blessing bread and wine, can transform it literally into a cannibal feast (Hmm, but the idea that God became Man is not dotty? Come on now, Richard, make your mind up, for that is what Anglicans believe!); nor to the nastier idea that possession of testicles is an essential qualification to perform the rite. It does not send its missionaries out to tell deliberate lies to AIDS-weakened Africans, about the alleged ineffectiveness of condoms in protecting against HIV. Whether one agrees with him or not, there is a saintly quality in the Archbishop of Canterbury, a benignity of countenance, a well-meaning sincerity. How does Pope Ratzinger (Benedict! Honestly! Have some respect!) measure up? The comparison is almost embarrassing (Yep. But not for the reasons he thinks...).

Poaching? Of course it is poaching (No, it isn't. Its like placing an ad in Friday-Ad saying, 'Any Anglican's want to become Catholic? Call me, Pope Benedict XVI, freephone, on XXIVIII IIVXI') What else could you call it? Maybe it will succeed. If estimates are right that 1,000 Anglican clergymen will take the bait (no women, of course: they will swiftly be shown the door) (Yes, indeed. "Here's the Church door, would you like to come in and enter into Full Communion with your Mother, the Church. Leave the dog collar at home..."), what could be their motive? For some it will be a deep-seated misogyny (although they'll re-label it with a mendacious euphemism of some kind, which they'll call 'an important point of theological principle') (Like, Christ was a Man, and He chose men to represent Him, therefore those representing Him on the Altar should be men - a minor theological principle, I know). They just can't stomach the idea of women priests. One wonders how their wives can stomach a husband whose contempt for women is so visceral that he considers them incapable even of the humble and unexacting duties of a priest.

For some, the motive will be homophobic bigotry, and a consequent dislike of the efforts of decent church leaders such as the Archbishop of Canterbury to accept those whose sexual orientation happens to deviate from majority taste (Awful isn't it? Every time you go to Mass, you see the sign saying, 'No queers, lesbians and in general, no sinners allowed'). Never mind that they will be joining an institution where buggering altar boys pervades the culture.

Turning to the motives of the poachers, here we find cause for real encouragement (for the Devil and his friends, but Richard, Christ has assured us that if we persevere in the Faith, the last laugh will be ours and it will last the longest, that is, as long as long can be, that is, Eternally). The Roman Catholic Church is fast running out of priests. In Ireland in 2007, 160 Catholic priests died, while only nine new recruits were ordained. To say the least, those figures don't point towards sustainability. No wonder that disgusting institution, the Roman Catholic Church, is dragging its flowing skirts in the dirt and touting for business like a common pimp: "Give me your homophobes, misogynists and pederasts. Send me your bigots yearning to be free of the shackles of humanity."

Archbishop Rowan Williams is too nice for his own good. Instead of meekly sharing that ignominious platform with the poachers, he should have issued a counter-challenge: "Send us your women, yearning to be priests, who could make a strong case for being the better-qualified fifty percent of humanity; send us your decent priests, sick of trying to defend the indefensible; send them all, in exchange for our woman-haters and gay-bashers." Sounds like a good trade to me. (Finished? Good!)

Quite how the Holy Father's fantastic innovation affects someone as devotedly atheistic as Dawkins is one of life's little mysteries. I do notice, however, that the Richard Dawkins website is advertising for volunteers. "For what?" I hear the people's cry! "Is Dawkins setting up a volunteer scheme for people to help poor HIV orphans in Africa, who are motherless because the Pope went around nicking people's rubbers? Is he showing his humanist compassion by setting up soup runs across the country with his vast wealth? O Richard, show us your deep love for humanity, you old social darwinist you!"

No, of course not. He needs, and I quote: 'Lawyers (specializing in American tax law [!!!!]), Accountants, Designers, Video Editors/Cameramen/Subtitling/Graphics (Final Cut Pro), Website & Computer Specialists, Translators (Spanish and French are needed most, but all languages are helpful!), Educators/Scientists, Marketing Specialists, Organizers/Managers.'

Ha-ha! Classic! Richard, dear old boy! Sounds to me like you are building a religion there, mate! Oh, that is too good! He wants people to work for free, for him, to spread his 'gospel'! Who is the founder of his religion and who rakes in the money? Yep, you guessed it...Dawkins! Look, just $19.99 for his DVD called 'The Root of All Evil?' Richard, it sounds like a question. The answer to the question isn't 'religion', it's 'money'.

'The Tide is Turning'

Exclusive picture of Ramsgate TLM courtesy of PA

Andrew M Brown pens piece for The Telegraph on the astonishing return of the TLM to St Augustine's Catholic Church in Ramsgate. Exciting stuff!

For Catholics in Ramsgate, Kent, Fr Steven Fisher is the man of the hour. Parishioners of the Pugin-designed St Augustine’s in the town had feared their church might be about to close but now Fr Fisher, who serves a neighbouring parish, says he will celebrate a Tridentine Mass there every Sunday.

Augustus Welby Pugin, who was something of a social theorist as well as an architect, designed St Augustine’s as part of his vision of an ideal Catholic community in the area, though as he died at 40 (of syphilis, probably) he didn’t live to see the church completed.

It is profusely decorated and Pevsner called it a “marvel”. But earlier this month the Benedictines, who had looked after the church for more than a century, announced they were leaving their abbey and seeking a new home, so the congregation of St Augustine’s, understandably in this age of padlocked churches, feared the diocese would close it.

Then Fr Fisher, the parish priest of St Ethelbert’s, Ramsgate, stepped in, proposing to parishioners that he could transfer the Tridentine Mass that’s currently offered at St Ethelbert’s to St Augustine’s.

“I gave the people a democratic vote,” he says, as if that was the most natural thing to do in the Catholic Church. They voted by 75 to zero in favour of the plan. From January, a Tridentine Mass will be celebrated in the Lady Chapel of St Augustine’s on Sundays at 8.30 in the morning.

“The people seem happy about it,” Fr Fisher says. He has also engaged a caretaker to open up the church to visitors on Sunday afternoons.

Fr Fisher, who sounds very friendly and sensible on the phone, is keen on the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, as it’s also known, although “it was Bishop John Hine [an auxiliary bishop in Southwark] who mooted this possibility to me”. The Extraordinary Form particularly suits St Augustine’s, according to Fr Fisher, since it’s the Mass as Pugin would have known it and besides, he says, breezily: “I’ve been saying it weekly since before Summorum Pontificum.”

Deo Gratias!

Thank You, St Jude

Well, I'm afraid I don't have enough money for petrol to get to Faversham to make a pilgrimmage to the National Shrine of St Jude, so I'm sorry I can't take anyone's intentions there with me. I remembered those who asked in my prayers this morning. Now I've moved into a place I've got bills to pay and not much to play with. However the Shrine does have a prayer intentions webpage, so click here to register your intentions. Why, I suppose, travel all the way to Faversham when you can just thank the kindly Saint and spread devotion from your blog?

Brighton All Hallows Eve Procession?

Henry of View from Outside has suggested a St Mary Magdalen's Procession to take place on All Hallows Eve, in response to pagan/new age/occult rituals and practises which undoubtedly, are commonplace on such festivals in Brighton. His suggestion is, 'to meet at St Mary Magdalen's Church and go round Brighton saying a decade of the Rosary at selected locations. I suggest the Abortionarium, the various witchcraft shops round the town and the dolphin fountain in the Old Steine.' Anyone up for it? Comment at his blog.

The UK: Down Right Disgusting

The UK is fast becoming the designer baby capital of the World. According to The Telegraph, 'three babies are being aborted every day due to Down's syndrome, according to a study which shows the number of terminations has more than trebled in the last 20 years.'

Courtesy of The Telegraph

Peter Elliott, Chairman of The Down Syndrome Research Foundation, who has a 24-year-old son David with Downs Syndrome, said: "Why are the abortions at such a high rate unless they have been given the impression the situation was terrible and it warranted an abortion?"

"I don't think the choice is presented to the parents in the light of the true situation where the children have a good life and are in fact viewed as a blessing to the parents, not a curse, and I don't think these parents getting the abortions know much about Downs syndrome at all."

Phyllis Bowman, director of the pro-life charity, Right to Life, said too many people do not appreciate the value of a child with Down's syndrome. She said: "I find it very sad that more terminations are being carried out due to Down's syndrome. These children can do very well, they can achieve GCSEs and we have a member with Down's who runs their own company.

"People are made frightened of having a Down's child by the images of the condition that are portrayed. Too many people are presupposing that people with Down's syndrome have no value."

It is estimated that there are approximately 60,000 people with Down's syndrome currently living in the UK.

CERN Fires Up and Fascinating Results In

The multi-billion pound CERN Large Hadron Collider has discovered some very interesting things as seen from the image above. Click here for more stunning discoveries from the biggest and most dangerous experiment in mankind's big and dangerous history.

I wonder how they came up with the name Large Hadron Collider. I think the scientists got together and said, "So, guys, what are we going to call this preposterous waste of money?" The other scientists said, "Well, we know its a Hadron Collider, let's stick with that."

Other scientists said, "Yes but its not any Hadron Collider, is it? It's bloody huge!"

So another scientist said, "Yes! Let's call it the Bloody Huge Hadron Collider!"

Another said, "No, we don't want to scare people. Let's call it the Really Very Large Hadron Collider."

"That's a big long-winded," said another, "What about shortening it to Very Large Hadron Collider."

Eventually they settled on Large Hadron Collider, but apparently, voices were still left echoing after the meeting, screaming, "It's not large! It's bloody huge!" Other voices were heard saying, "I don't know. We should have stuck with preposterous waste of money. I mean, that's closer to the truth."

'Be Safe, Use Protection, Wear a Rosary'

Perplexed by continued soaring rates of teenage pregnancies, abortions and STIs, a new Government advertising scheme is to roll out next summer. The campaign, 'Be Safe: Wear a Rosary' is a stunning change in direction from the Government. The advertising campaign will feature a young couple getting hot under the collar. The controversial advert, which has received over 500 million complaints from atheists already, before it has even been aired, will feature a conversation from the young couple on the benefits of the Rosary.

The teenage boy and the teenage girl are watching a film when the couple begin kissing and hands start moving to places which could lead to impurity and sin. The teenage girl then says, "Did you bring protection?"

The teenage boy then says, "Oh no...I can't find it. Do you have one?"

The girl says, "Hang on, I'll have a dig around in my bedside drawer....Yes, I've got one. Shall we use a blue one or a white one?"

The boy says, "A white one. Let's do it on the floor in the bedroom."

The girl says, "Yes, lets do that."

The boy then says, "Ready? I believe in One God, the Father the Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth..."

A ladies voiceover then comes in as the ad fades to a picture of the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary and whispers, "Be Safe, Use Protection, Wear a Rosary."

Anglican Mystified by Catholic Bishops Fear of the TLM

I've been engaging in some somewhat belligerent ecumenism on an Anglican's blog. In a good post, Tim Collard, a 'strong Anglican' (remember, Tim, Cardinal Newman was a 'strong Anglican' before he became a strong Catholic then a 'strong contender for Sainthood and soon to a canonized Saint) cannot understand why many Catholic Bishops are opposed to the Latin Mass. Tim, neither can many of us...He writes:

From what one hears, the Church of England should be shaking in its warm woolly socks by now. The Pope’s latest initiative, allowing ultra-traditionalist Anglicans to go over to Rome en masse while being allowed to preserve their traditional liturgy, is being portrayed as a devious Papist attempt to split and undermine our national Church.

As a strong Anglican, I don’t buy into any of this (Deo Gratias!). Many people may not think that there’s much difference between the churches, but that’s not how they see it in Glasgow, and that’s not how the Pope sees it either. These things are important. But still, for me anything Pope Benedict does to break down the barriers is a Good Thing (Like it! Capital letters for what the Holy Father has done! Remember, only holy things deserve capitals!). If some Anglicans (Why capitals!?) choose to go over to Rome as a result of this initiative, I’m not going to throw anything at them. Some of my best friends, etc.

But there’s a strange backstory here. As my colleague Damian Thompson chronicles in his blog, there are internecine disputes between British Catholics too. The Pope – and let me say at this point that I admire intellectual rigour even when I disagree with the man who wields it – wishes to reintroduce the old-style Latin Mass, not as compulsory, but as an option. Much of the British Catholic hierarchy, according to Damian, do not like this at all. They seem to fear that the Latin Mass is a) so 1950s, and b) only one step away from the thumbscrew and the stake.

Now, the sort of traditional Anglicans the Pope is trying to attract are the sort who wouldn’t mind the Latin Mass in the slightest (If I were a traddie Anglican, I wouldn't be up for guitar masses either!). I like it myself. When travelling abroad – most recently in Budapest and Copenhagen – I have attended Mass on a Sunday. While prepared for a completely unintelligible service, I was on both occasions gratified to sit in on a service which I understood (a lifetime of choral singing has left me well acquainted with the Latin Mass). This was the Catholic Church doing what it says on the tin (Oh boy! This guy is there! He understands the benefits of the TLM and for once I am not being a sarcastic git!).

What I wonder is why the British Catholic Bishops are so frightened of a resurgence of the Latin Mass. It seems odd that Catholic liberals are so wedded to modernism in liturgy and music, whereas the hardcore traddies prefer Tridentine rites, Gregorian chant, etc. On the Anglican side it is the hardline evangelicals who are keenest on modern “choruses”, tambourines, clapping etc, while the liturgical traditionalists, who cherish the great tradition of English church music, are closer to the liberals.

So, will the Pope’s initiative lead to a large exodus of traditional Anglicans? I don’t think so somehow. Anyone who is at all susceptible to the ecclesiological arguments of Rome has surely gone over already (Hold your horses, Tim, the Holy Spirit is still working on England!). We’ll carry on making our sublime church music. (The Sistine Chapel Choir is terrible.) We’ll live alongside you as we always have (Always have?! Well, in the spirit of ecumenism, sometimes it is worth whitewashing history, I suppose!), and will listen to anything sensible you have to say, especially to HH the Pope, who is a great Christian theologian. And, while we’ll always accept in a brotherly spirit anyone who is honestly convinced to go over to Rome, we’ll also rejoice over any of yours who can’t cope with the intellectual tergiversations any more and come over to us.

I like this post. It has something of the 'I'm not bitter' about it but at the same time is magnanimous in spirit towards those Anglicans, lay and priests, who will come over and accept the Holy Father's generous offer. I don't think Anglicans fear dead puppies through the letterbox when they convert, though, apparently Ann Widdecombe got vile letters when she did. I think its the sense of rejection by a community who feel they have rejected them, if that makes sense.

Who knows, perhaps Tim might one day cross the Tiber. We leave such things to the Lord after we have savaged the roots of the Anglican Church on that persons blog. However, I do always get a bit annoyed by Anglicans or anyone who admire sthe Holy Father's intellect so much, at the expense of the Office he holds. It has to be said, that if the Pope was a total ignoramous (which someone called me on Tim's blog), he would still be the Pope, he would still be the Sucessor of St Peter, he would still be the Prince of the Apostles and he would still have the Authority given by Christ to St Peter to teach all nations, baptising in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. If the Pope had never read a single word of St Thomas Aquinas, St Augustine, St Teresa of Avila, St Anselm or Pope St Gregory the Great, if I met him, I'd still kiss his hands and his feet, because...its the bloody Pope!!!!!!

Which is exactly the spirit in which Bishops should receive both the Holy Father's invitation to the Anglicans and Summorum Pontificum. In fact some of our Bishops are like Anglicans who say, "The Holy Father has a formidable intellect. He is a capable and profoundly wise theologian. His grasp of matters theological and his exegesis of even the current economic situation and the negative consequences of sin upon the human family are breathtaking." Then, five minutes later someone goes up to the Bishop and says, 'Your Lordship! The Holy See, at the behest of His Holiness himself has liberated the Traditional Latin Mass. He's written you a personal letter to invite you to follow this new liturgical renewal of the Church! What do you think?!"

The Bishop says, "Nah, that sounds silly. I'll carry on doing my own thing."

Just thought I'd mention that.

Men Should Marry Young, Smart Women, Say Scientists

A scientist analyses the best conditions for marriage...

Courtesy of The Telegraph

Scientists tracked 1,000 couples who were either married or in serious relationships over five years and then looked for patterns among those who were still together. They found that neither should have been divorced in the past, the man should be five or more years older and the woman should have received more education than the man.

The academics’ report, published in the European Journal of Operational Research, did say that men and women choose partners “on the basis of love, physical attraction, similarity of taste, beliefs and attitudes, and shared values”. But it added that using “objective factors” such as age, education and cultural origin “may help reduce divorce”.

Their research suggests marital bliss for pop star Beyoncé Knowles, 28, and her husband, the rap star Jay-Z, who is 11 years older at 39. She is also better educated as he did not receive a high school diploma. However while Michael Douglas, 65, is considerably older than his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, 40, the fact that he was previously divorced would count against them, the findings suggest.

The scientists, including Dr Emmanuel Fragniere of the University of Bath, found that a previous divorce lessened the chances of a relationship surviving, but this was less marked when both partners had been divorced before.

St Jude, Patron of Hopeless Causes

St. Jude, glorious apostle, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the name of the person who betrayed our Lord has caused you to be forgotten by many, but the true Church invokes you universally as the Patron of things despaired of. Pray for me, who is so miserable; pray for me, that I may finally receive the consolations and the succour of Heaven in all my necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly (ADD YOUR PERSONAL REQUEST HERE), and that I may bless God with the Elect Throughout Eternity.

May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be Adored, Glorified, Loved & Preserved throughout the world, now & forever. Sacred Heart of Jesus, please pray for me. Saint Jude, Worker of Miracles, please pray for me. Saint Jude, Helper of the Hopeless, please pray for me. Amen.

Long Live Fox News!

This political commentator is spot on. It would appear that the rest of the news networks are indeed in the pockets of the White House. Remember, when the Fourth Estate goes, usually, whole peoples go. I hope Keith Olbermann is as ready to lambast the Obama administration on its faults as he was, rightly, to lambast the previous administration on its theirs. Or could it be that he, like so many in the mass media in the US have fallen for the 'liberal messiah'. Honestly, just because Obama is not George Bush, just because Obama is a liberal does not mean that he is not a git. Just because liberals swoon when he comes into the room does not mean he is not bad, bad news. Just wait...you'll see.

Swine Flu Vaccine Concerns Update

Irish Independent
Wednesday, Oct 21st, 2009

Public health nurses may have to be drafted in to give the swine flu vaccine in some parts of the country. The nurses will also be used in Dublin because of a lack of GPs willing to take part in the scheme, it was learned last night.

I'd Rather be Fat than Split Up Families

The wicked and evil exploits of Social Services continues unabated. Click here for a Daily Mail story which has me so livid I can't bring myself to copy and paste it a word of it onto my blog. Equality, eh? Isn't it wonderful! Say a prayer for this family which has now been destroyed by an arm of the State so pernicious, damnable and dangerous to the institution of the family that Satan himself could hardly do a better job.

Providence!

This is not my sofa, but it is a visual representation of it. The Lord, in His great generosity has deluged me with gifts for my new studio flat. Yesterday I found a computer desk on the street and this morning my friend's mother gave me a chair that turns into a single bed. Then on our way to moving that, this guy who does freecycling saw us carrying the chair-bed. He says to us, "You looking for furniture." Me and my friend say, "Yeah, why?" He goes, "Need a sofa? I've got one going here." I say, "Yeah!" Then he drives this reclining sofa over to my flat and me and my friend move it in. A sofa and a chair-bed and a computer desk all free, which is lucky because right now I can't afford to buy new! How good is the Lord to those with a bad credit rating and stretched overdraft! Blessed be His holy Name! Today, I'm picking up a bedside cabinet someone wants rid of. Cracking stuff!

Swine Flu Vaccine Concerns

A doctor and vaccine expert tells Fox News that he will not give his kids the H1N1 shots because they are contaminated with deadly levels of Mercury.

The same Fox News which the Obama administration are apparently spending a lot of hours condemning in the media for 'bias' aired the views of this doctor who claims that the vaccine has 20,000 times the amount of mercury recognised as safe in water.

It appears that just as with the Obama administration's general, rather liberal-dictatorship agenda the administration doesn't like Fox reporting anything but the Government line whether it be the Healthcare Bill or the H1N1 outbreak or gay marriage, abortion or anything that offends it. Scary. Personally, it was obvious to me from the outset that the Obama team would not like pluralism in the media because their goal is so obviously a 'cultural revolution'. Heck! They've even got little children singing songs to Obama in schools. God preserve us!

Also, is it just me, but don't but the symptoms of 'swine flu' presented by the scientific community bear a striking resemblance to symptoms of the annual flu or even a cold? You know me. I'd be the last person to shout "Conspiracy!", but it is deeply disconcerting that the 'Science Czar' John Holdren is also into depopulation ideas, sterlisation and enforced abortion. Are Americans, and indeed the British and Europeans going to trust these guys with a vaccine?

The BBC reports that, 'Seriously ill hospital patients and the health staff caring for them will be the first of 14m people in the "priority group" to be given the jab.' Who's signing up for this first? The Liverpool Care Pathway?! The same report says that pregnant women are next in line. Err...High levels of mercury being given to pregnant women in a vaccine even when they are not even experiencing symptoms of the 'swine flu'? I'm sorry, that doesn't sound like a great idea, but hey, who am I, who knows so little about medicine to express concern?! Let's get this straight. The first targets of the vaccination with huge question marks over its side effects are pregnant women, and by default, the unborn and the elderly already sick? At a time when Governments are re-thinking whether the elderly and the unborn are worth protecting this news should perhaps have Catholic and, yes everybody's alarm bells ringing.

As an aside I thought I'd mention public concerns about GM food crops. Loads of people interviewed on TV last night were saying that they were concerned that the scientists were 'messing with nature'. Hmm...So, the public have concerns that scientists are 'messing with nature' with GM crops, but scientists aren't 'messing with nature' when they inject human embryos with animal DNA?

Anglicans Set to Transform 'Godless' Brighton

The Argus reports that Brighton, dubbed the 'most Godless town in Britain' (by Holy Trinity Brompton Church, London) is to be evangelised by Archie Coates and his wife and Jonny Gumbel and his wife. These inspirational, charismatic Anglicans will take Brighton by the scruff of the neck and haul it out of sin and into St Peter's Church - that is - St Peter's Anglican Church in London Road. Nicky Gumbel's son, Jonny, dubbed 'Son of Alpha' (by me) will be Curate. Click here for a great little video of Brightonian responses to being told their town is 'the most Godless' in the UK'. I love it! Middle aged ladies are featured saying, 'Actually, I really rather like it here...It's better than Hastings.' (LMAO!)

Click here for another official HTB video that will have heretics, unbelievers and traditonal Anglicans, as well as Catholics running for Sussex Downs. Rest assured, the new team at the landmark church which will no longer be ringing out peals of bells on Gay Pride Day as did their predecessors, while the Church of Christ the King (CCK), Brighton's other evangelical, no nonsense, believe-in-Jesus-and-your- saved-it's-easy-peesy church, will be quaking in their boots that they have a rival. The Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) team, not to be confused with the Brompton Oratory (BO) team are less than traditional but believe they can 'bring Brighton to Jesus'.

Meanwhile, we Catholics will be as feeble in 'evangelism' and 'outreach' as we always are and will continue to go and spend all our cash in pubs, while the new breed of dewy-eyed, misty-faced clean-living evangelicals clean up and get people to attend their church. What can we do to combat these happy fresh faced young whipper snappers and bring Brighton to the true Faith? Well, thank God, Fr Ray Blake is celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass is all I can say.

Whatever the percentage of Brighton's population who attend church are, rest assured, HTB chaps and chapesses, that Brighton is not 'Godless'. The Most High Jesus Christ (bows head and takes off army surplus cap) is in the Tabernacle at St Mary Magdalen's, St John the Baptist's, St Mary's and St Joseph's. The hope is that the nearby traditional, high-Mass loving, St Bartholomew's CoE church will go over to Rome and start talking in Latin, rather than in tongues and offer an alternative to the 'alternative'. Still, all in all...good luck to them...Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain! Now that's ecumenism!

Let's Go Church Shopping!

In light of the announcement by Pope Benedict XVI of a function for Anglicans to be incorporated into the Catholic Church and the possibility of thousands of traditional Anglican's converting en masse to be incorporated into Holy Mother Church, a new board game is being released called, 'Let's Go Church Shopping with Pope Benedict XVI!' A board game for all the family!

'Loughborough Parish Church is one of the major churches in Leicestershire. Its handsome 14th century proportions are crowned by its elaborate and pinnacled tower and clerestory which date from the 15th century. All this reflects the wealth and patronage of the local manor lords and more especially the merchants and wool traders of those times. Many of their heraldic symbols still embellish the external insets of the great west window and of the tower door. But the history goes back further than this, and the church almost certainly sits on both Norman and Saxon predecessors.'

That's cute! We'll take it! Oh! Hey! What d'ya know!? Built in the 14th century, you say? It was ours anyway!

Stephen Fry's At It Again!

Stephen Fry: The atheist of the Little Flower?

Check it out! Stephen Fry apparently spent all evening last night, alongside Christopher Hitchens denouncing the Church in an 'Intelligence Squared' debate in London, I guess.

The motion put forward was, 'The Catholic Church is a force for good in the World'. According to Andrew M Brown of The Telegraph, Hitchens and Fry defeated the arguments of Archbishop Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria and the Rt Hon Ann Widdecombe and the latter lost the debate as reflected in the votes. Well, whether people believe the triumphant distortions of truth and history given by the celebrities or the voices of the Church Militant is up to them. Whether the Catholic spokespersons were strong enough intellectually to match Fry and Hitchens is a matter in itself for debate. I guess it goes back to that campaign Fr Ray Blake and Paul Priest wanted to get more competent Catholic spokesmen and women.

Anyway, regardless, the same Stephen Fry (because, let's face it, we expect this kind of crap from Hitchens) apparently argued against the motion. Yet, the same Stephen Fry, as I posted earlier in the week, will be hosting an evening with music and film at the Royal Festival Hall for The Passage Homeless centre which was founded by Cardinal Basil Hume on 27th November 2009!

So, on the 27th November 2009, the same man who argued so vociferously against the motion, 'The Catholic Church is a Force for Good in the World' will be hosting an evening raising funds for a Catholic institution which only does good in the World. What is more, he might be saying a few words drawing attention to the marvellous work of The Passage Homeless Centre, which feeds the hungry and helps the homeless get back on their feet! You couldn't make it up!

I wonder how The Passage feel about their choice of host, who has not only made scandalous remarks against Polish Catholics linking them to the Holocaust (something for which he has not so much apologised but gone into self-denigration, basically saying, 'Okay, I was wrong and foolish') but is now teaming up with Christopher Hitchens of 'Let me tell you how much I hate Mother Teresa' fame to attack the Church in public debating societies!

You know, I'm starting to think Stephen Fry isn't half as clever or intellectual as everybody says he is...He may have Q.I. He may even have I.Q. But he can't remember his diary dates.

Holy Shockwaves from Rome!

Courtesy of Damian Thompson of The Telegraph

'This is astonishing news. Pope Benedict XVI has created an entirely new Church structure for disaffected Anglicans that will allow them to worship together – using elements of Anglican liturgy – under the pastoral supervision of their own specially appointed bishop or senior priest.

The Pope is now offering Anglicans worldwide “corporate reunion” on terms that will delight Anglo-Catholics. In theory, they can have their own married priests, parishes and bishops – and they will be free of liturgical interference by liberal Catholic bishops who are unsympathetic to their conservative stance.

There is even the possibility that married Anglican laymen could be accepted for ordination on a case-by-case basis – a remarkable concession.

Both Archbishop Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Rowan Williams are surprised by this dramatic move. Cardinal Levada, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was in Lambeth Palace only yesterday to spell out to Dr Williams what it means. This decision has, in effect, been taken over their heads – though there is no suggestion that Archbishop Nichols does not fully support this historic move. For more click here.

Hurrah and indeed, huzzah! Come on over ladies (who don't want to be priestesses) and gentlemen! Who's the Daddy?



He is. Oh yes!

Meanwhile, The Times's Ruth Gledhill feels unable to rejoice in a joint article with colleague Richard Owen in a piece entitled, 'Vatican moves to poach traditional Anglicans', as if Anglicans were football stars being lured away by foreign clubs offering better wages, better sponsorship deals and more certain futures. Hmm...there may be something in that, still, whether Anglicans, most likely traditional Anglicans come over is their free choice, Ruth. Heck! They even put a link to the Archbishop of Canterbury's official site entitled, 'IN FULL, Joint Statement on poaching plan'!

I know that if were an Anglican egg right now, I'd rather be 'poached' by Rome now, than be 'scrambled' by Canterbury.

Abortion an Ecological Disaster Says Bishop

Courtesy of Catholic Online

Bishop Demetrio Fernandez of Tarazona, Spain voiced his support this week for the October 17 March for Life in Madrid and warned that with the legalization of abortion, “a true ecological disaster” has been unleashed in Europe and will turn it into “a continent of death.”

“This is a true ecological disaster, which affects the unborn child, the mother who has conceived him, the different people involved in the issue (the baby’s father, the grandparents, health care workers, etc.) and all of society that will suffer from the negative impact of this ecological disaster,” the bishop said in a pastoral letter.

He pointed out that since the legalization of abortion, “some 50 million children were not born, who would today be 50 million young people,” which Europe needs desperately as the population “is prematurely aging and is dying of sadness and despair.”

For more click here.

At Some Point I Have to Ask the Question...

What went wrong with me?

I have very generous parents, you know. My summer of car dwelling/friend's floors dwelling/parent's house dwelling is about to come to an end and I am about to move into a newly built 'eco' studio flat thanks to the generosity of mum and dad. I'm going to invite friends from Church and beyond round on Saturday/Sunday to come over and have some food and a few bevvies. There's a 'Lord Bless this House' picture left over from the Car Boot Sale which I'll ask Fr Ray to bless along with the flat.

I'll have a key to the next block and I'll be able to use the lift to get to the top of the block of the flats and look out over Brighton. You can see the sea and everything, most of Brighton! The flat's got everything. A bed is on the way, it's got a fridge freezer, oven, grill, cupboards, washing machine and even a dishwasher. The cistern above the toilet is flat, so I can finally have the toilet fish tank I always wanted. I've got a kettle and a toaster and I've got a second hand sofa and table and chairs on the way. I'm not sure about getting a TV because its another bill and TV is mostly rubbish apart from the odd documentary. Still, if I can get a job....who knows?

From now on I have to be responsible...promise! If only I had that Protestant work ethic thing! I'm going to start applying for jobs left right and centre. I hear Poundland are looking for staff for Christmas. I've done nothing to deserve what I've been given. I hope I can get a job so that I can afford to stay there.

I don't usually do many 'me' posts, but I still think its quite crappy of me that at the age of 32 I still don't have a career or even a job save for a history of temping. Anyway, say a prayer for me that I don't **** this opportunity up! Otherwise my fate is pictured above! I mean, what on earth would I do if I ever wanted to get married or something and have kids? As it stands now, me and my fantasy family would be right shafted. Wretched sinners like me never think of such things until its too...Well...late is better than never I suppose.

The Sacred Made Real Exhibition

'Dead Christ' (c1625-30), a sculpture by Gregorio Fernández
Photo: Imagen MAS

'The Sacred Made Real' at the National Gallery is a groundbreaking exhibition of hyper-real religious works that will change the way we see art.

Courtesy of The Telegraph

In the northern Spanish city of Valladolid, I am examining the corpse of a man who has suffered a terrible and sustained assault. His eyes are glazed in death, his mouth hangs open, his body is covered in a mass of wounds and lacerations. It is quite hard to look at, yet at the same time it is beautiful. “This,” says Maria Bolanos, the director of the Museo Nacional Colegio de San Gregorio, which I am visiting, “is our Rokeby Venus!”

She is joking, of course, but only a little. We are contemplating 'Dead Christ' (c1625-30) by Gregorio Fernández, one of the great masterpieces of 17th-century Spanish sculpture. Next week it goes on show as one of the star exhibits in a remarkable and ground-breaking exhibition at the National Gallery, The Sacred Made Real...for more click here.

You can read a review of the exhibition by Richard Dorwent here.

The Sacred Made Real is at the National Gallery from Wednesday October 21.

Even better, let Archbishop Vincent Nichols take you through it.

Thank God for those genius Spanish artists c.1600-1700! I don't know about you, but I can feel another parish coach outing coming on!

Global Catastrophes

Gordon Brown is warning of a global catastophe is we don't do something about climate change. Meanwhile, Hollywood is warning of a global catastrophe which has nothing to do with climate change. Who to believe?! Hollywood, politicians, Hollywood, politicans...Either way, looks like we're shafted! Crikey! If 2012 is anything like the film that could really set back out the parish Building Restoration Fund...



...quite significantly!

"Behold I stand at the door..."

Pilgrims! Forget Fatima, Lourdes and the place in the former Yugoslavia we're not supposed to talk about! Everyone! Over to Ikea in Glasgow!

The manager of Ikea, Glasgow said, "We had no idea the Lord was a minimalist having viewed the abundance of Creation. We're delighted that He has given a Sign that He blesses this Swedish chain of quality, competitively priced furniture."

Alright, he didn't.

St Mary Magdalen Priest Forced to Celebrate Ad Orientem

Henry from St Mary Magdalen's posted this excellent picture of Fr Ray Blake celebrating Mass at the parish on Sunday. At the front you can see the Sanctuary floor being taken up before a new one is layed down this week. In the meantime, Fr Ray was forced to celebrate Mass Ad Orientem. There would have been no room to move on the other side. This picture makes a lot of sense!

Devolution?

According to The Telegraph...

'Men today are the weakest in history and would have been no match for our ancestors in a battle of strength or speed, research suggests.

Peter McAllister, the author of Manthropology: the Science of Inadequate Modern Man, described today’s males as the “sorriest cohort of masculine Homo sapiens to ever walk the planet”.

By analysing sets of footprints preserved in a fossilised claypan lake bed, Mr McAllister concluded that Australian aboriginals 20,000 years ago reached speeds of 23mph on soft, muddy ground.

Bolt, by comparison, reached a top speed of 26mph at last year's Beijing Olympics during his then world 100 metres record of 9.69 seconds.

Mr McAllister claims that with modern training, spiked shoes and rubberised tracks, aboriginal hunters might have reached speeds of 28mph - faster than Bolt's record-breaking 100m performance at the World Championships in Berlin this summer.'

How does this square with the 'survival of the fittest' model as proposed by Darwin/Dawkins/Darkins? If men are physically weaker and can't run as fast as they used to be able to run, does that mean man has evolved to be a bit weaker? Is being physically weaker an improvement in the species? Or have we simply evolved to put our feet on the sofa, have a cup of tea and watch Coronation Street?

Did You Know That...

Stephen Fry recently made horrid, awful anti-Polish and anti-Catholic remarks recently basically suggesting that that Polish Catholics were largely to blame for the Holocaust, citing which side of the German border Auschwitz resides. What a scandalous thing to say, given so many Poles met their deaths at the hands of the Nazis and how awfully anti-Catholic of him?

But did you know that the same Stephen Fry is hosting a screening of 'Brief Encounter' near on the South Bank or something, the proceeds of which will go to the Homeless charity, 'The Passage', (oo-er!) which was set up by the late, great Cardinal Basil Hume? I know not everyone thinks he was that great, but I thought he was great having read some of his stuff.

So someone who clearly harbours anti-Catholic or even anti-Polish Catholic resentment is hosting an evening, the proceeds of which go to a Catholic charity. Who is being more charitable here? Stephen Fry? Or Westminster Cathedral? By rights, surely, in the light of his remarks against the Polish Catholic community, a not negligible number of whom live in London, he should be dropped as the host of this charity film fest, even if it is an English classic, or should issue a swift apology for his outburst? Okay, he has done, but I still think the Poles might be rather naffed off with him.

Somebody as intellectually nuanced as Mr Fry should know better than to contaminate history with his anti-Catholicism and colour events according to his prejudices. I always thought he was bigger and better than that. I don't know. I'd be apprehensive meeting Mr Fry. I think he'd eat me for breakfast, intellectually at least, and then ask me whether I'd like any.

England Family in St Therese of Lisieux Heirloom Shock!

Hello.

My dear mum has handed me a small piece of parchment with a beautifully crafted paper rose and painted green stalk. Inside the petals of the pink rose, you lift up the paper petals and there is a little picture of St Therese of Lisieux! Next to it, is, written in pink, a little quote saying, 'I will let fall a shower of roses - St Therese of Lisieux'.

I don't think that we have much Catholic heritage in the family but it is from my mother's side. That St Therese - She gets everywhere! Prisons, churches, non-Catholic households!

286,650

That is the approximate total of the number of pilgrims who flocked to venerate the relics. Not bad for a 'casket of bones' eh?!! One of those who attended was Matthew Parris! Good for you, Mr Parris! Here's a good link to the Papal homily at her Canonisation


Anyway, here, for my friend with a little dog called Raphael is a picture of a chihuahua which I am posting for no apparant reason whatsoever.

Telegraph Pens Opinion Piece on Abortion

Courtesy of The Telegraph

'It is extraordinary that it should have taken a judgment by the Information Tribunal last week to force the Department of Health (DoH) to release the statistics it holds on late abortions. It is also disgraceful. These abortions are alleged sometimes to be performed on what are euphemistically termed "social grounds": not because the mother or the foetus faces a serious risk to health, but because the mother has been advised that the foetus may be born with a feature – such as a cleft palate or a club foot – that she does not wish her child to have.

The information now to be released comprises statistics which are essential for the assessment of whether late abortion is or is not being used in order to ensure that "designer babies" are born. Many people oppose all abortions on principle; many more feel that terminating pregnancies for essentially cosmetic reasons is profoundly wrong, and should not be allowed. It is certainly arguable that the legal grounds for performing abortions after 24 weeks in order to avoid the birth of less-than-perfect babies are extremely dubious under the 1967 Abortion Act. That Act licenses terminations up until birth if there is a substantial risk that the baby will be born with a "serious" physical or mental abnormality. But it is not easy to see how anyone can maintain that a club foot or a cleft palate, however distressing it may be, counts as a "serious" abnormality under the Act.

Rather than have an open debate over the merits of the practice of "cosmetic" late abortions, the department evidently decided that the easiest way to ensure that its own view prevailed was simply to withhold details of the number of such terminations taking place. It was an extremely cynical move: the Government clearly approves of the controversial late abortions, but rather than justify its stance, it made debate impossible by depriving the public of information which is critical to it.

The grounds which the DoH has provided for its decision are so clearly spurious that it is astonishing that they should have been put forward, never mind been used to block the publication of the relevant data for six years. The department's lawyers have claimed that releasing the statistics might cause "mental distress or harm" to vulnerable women. Even if that were true, it would not necessarily be a reason for keeping the data secret: material from inquests, and from ordinary criminal trials, can certainly be distressing to some people, particularly relatives of the victim, but no one thinks that is a reason for stopping inquests or trials from being held in public.

But it is blatantly false that the release of the late abortion data need cause mental harm and distress to anyone. It should be fully anonymised, so as not to reveal the personal details of anyone involved, whether it be the doctors or the mothers. Up until 2002, when opponents of late abortion began to campaign against the practice, the statistics were published. No one was harmed. The DoH's use of the bogus claim that the data could cause harm illustrates that the basis of their case is not protecting privacy or safety, but their desire to keep the issue out of public discussion.

The ProLife Alliance and its barrister Paul Diamond are to be congratulated on taking the matter to the Information Tribunal, and winning. We hope now, finally, that there will be an open debate on the merits of late abortions – and we deeply deplore the Government's dogged attempts to prevent one.'

The BBC's Question Time

The country is in economic turmoil. The recession is hitting communities hard. Tensions are high and everybody hates the current mainstream political parties because of the expenses row. The BBC's response: "Let's invite the leader of the BNP onto Question Time!"

Here are a few Nick Griffin quotes...

“I am well aware that the orthodox opinion is that six million Jews were gassed and cremated or turned into lampshades. Orthodox opinion also once held that the earth is flat…I have reached the conclusion that the ‘extermination’ tale is a mixture of Allied wartime propaganda, extremely profitable lie, and latter day witch-hysteria.”

"So, what are we now doing with the British National Party? Well we tried to simplify its message in some ways and to make it a saleable message. So it's not white supremacy or racial civil war or anything like that, which is what we know in fact is going on, and we're not supremacists, we're white survivalists, even that frightens people. Four apple pie words, freedom, security, identity and democracy." (2001 - Speech to the American Friends of the BNP)

"The electors of Millwall did not back a post-modernist Rightist party, but what they perceived to be a strong, disciplined organisation with the ability to back up its slogan 'Defend Rights for Whites', with well directed boots and fists."

Nice guy, eh!?

Lordy! Lordy! Vote 'No' to the Culture of Death

According to the University of Bath...

'The University of Bath is giving people the chance to have their say on assisted dying, ahead of a free public lecture by pro-legalisation campaigner Lord Joel Joffe CBE on Tuesday 27 October.

Take part in our online poll to vote for or against the legalisation of assisted dying for the terminally ill and leave your comments on the issue. The poll will close on Monday 26 October and results will be published online.'

We know what this really means and we know where it eventually ends. Say 'No' to the Culture of Death. Click here to vote.

Church Newsletters/Magazines Funny Errors

My friend Tanya sent me this. The following have all appeared in church magazines/newsletters...

Next weekend's Fasting & Prayer Conference in Whitby includes all meals.

Sunday morning sermon: 'Jesus Walks on the Water'
Sunday evening sermon: 'Searching for Jesus.'

Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale, it's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.

Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community.

Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say 'Hell' to someone who doesn't care much about you.

Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.

Miss Charlene Mason sang 'I will not pass this way again,' giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.

For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.

Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice.

Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.

Scouts are saving aluminium cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.

Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.

The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.

Potluck supper Sunday at 5PM - prayer and medication to follow.

The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

This evening at 7PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.

The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the Congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday.

Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7PM. Please use the back door.

The school drama group will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church hall on Friday at 7PM. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

Weight Watchers will meet at 7PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.

The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new campaign slogan last Sunday: 'I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours!'

Matthew Parris Visited Relics of St Therese at Westminster

And appears to have calmed down now...

'Another miracle! Having now visited the casket containing pieces of her foot and thigh bone, all my doubts about the supernatural powers of St Thérèse of Lisieux have fled.

You may remember that some weeks ago, as a lapsed militant atheist, I experienced a miraculous reconversion to my dastardly faith after contemplating the arrival at Portsmouth (for a tour of Britain) of a casket containing some of the relics of St Thérèse. Well, yesterday the 19th-century French saint sent me another sign. It happened like this...

I had decided to visit the bones yesterday at Westminster Cathedral: a vast, gloomy, late 19th-century, brick-built cavern combining memories of Byzantium with aspects of a biscuit factory. Hoping to avoid the queues I emerged from the Tube around 7.45am. Whereupon something strange happened. An inner voice told me to wait; take a coffee; read the papers for a bit. I read The Times carefully, noting an infelicity in our poll questioning on Afghanistan (of which more later) — until, at 8.25, the Voice told me to go to the cathedral. I went.

Already there was a near-carnival atmosphere surrounding the bones. A temporary fish-and-chips stall had sprung up beside a smoothies-and-coffee tent. In front of the cathedral was a huge array of steel-barriered paddocks for pilgrims queueing for the relics. A kind pilgrim stopped me going down the eastern flank of the cathedral: “She’s gone the other way.” So I crossed to the western flank and, following other pilgrims, made my way into the cathedral, joining a long queue. Something like a shopfront faced me: Candles £1 — Roses £1. I bought a red rose. I passed a first-aid alcove for those seeking medical help from St Thérèse, and huge banks of burning candles. A notice declared “Lighting a candle is a prayer”, which is not the case...'

Click here for his full account. It is less scathing, still a little chiding and disrespectful, but more playful. More than anything its more Protestant than atheistic in content. Outside the Cathedral he saw one Tony Blair, who apparently looked a little embarrassed that he had been spotted by a journalist at the veneration. I shall bite my lip and not say anything derogatory about our beloved former PM and soon to be Supreme Ruler of the European Nations...for once. May the Little Flower intercede for both of them and thus shower graces and blessings down upon them!

Meanwhile, the BBC cover the Relics quite respectfully, but get an Anglican vicar in to denounce Relics as idolatry because the veneration of Relics and apparently even the Mass itself covers up Our Lord Jesus Christ. What with all the guitar Masses in Catholic Churches nowadays you have to sympathise with his position on that one.

Still, nice one BBC. "Westminster has the Relics of a great Saint! Let's get a quote from the Protestant vicar!"

The 'Relics' of the World

A relic of Elvis Presley = £63,000

The Relics of St Therese of Lisieux...Oh boy! Priceless!

Of course, the Church is magnanimous to let the World have its heroes. The questions is, is the World magnamimous enough to let the Church have Her Saints?

MSN News Reports that...

Two separate auctions are offering people the chance to bid for locks of hair belonging to the greatest male pop stars of the 20th century: Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson.

Presley's hair is being auctioned in Chicago, while 12 strands of Michael Jackson's locks are going under the hammer in London. The clump of Presley's hair is one of around 200 items of memorabilia being sold at the Leslie Hindman auctioneers on Sunday. All hail from the collection of Gary Pepper, an Elvis superfan. The hair is expected to fetch as much as $100,000 (£63,000).

The strands from Jackson's head, meanwhile, date from the singer's freak accident in 1984 when his hair caught fire during the filming of a TV advertisement for Pepsi. The dozen follicles were retrieved by Ralph Cohen, the advert's executive producer, who took off his coat to put out the flames.

Richard Davie, of International Autograph Auctions, is selling the hair and other artefacts at the Radisson Edwardian hotel at Heathrow Airport in London this weekend. He said: "This memorabilia has doubled in price since Michael Jackson died. Jackson has huge global appeal with collectors all around the world.

"Of all the things he has done, including dangling his baby from the window and sleeping in an oxygen tent, the hair-burning incident stands out. There will be lots of people who will want to buy these items as souvenirs and those who would like them as investments."

Of course, blowing all that cash on a lock of Elvis's hair might float the boat of some men and women. But, it only cost me £15 coach fare to go and venerate the Relics of the Little Flower.

Guardian Articles on St Therese of Lisieux

Image: PA

Two very contrasting articles on the Relics of St Therese of Lisieux. One by an open-minded Guardian journalist who visited the Relics at Westminster and one by a closed-minded Guardian journalist who didn't.

Courtesy of The Guardian, article by Stephen Moss.

It is a gorgeous day, cold and bright, the sky a flawless blue. A day you could almost believe in God. Amid the throng just down the road from the Houses of Parliament (an institution in urgent need of divine intercession), here is Catholicism at its most assured: a grand sense of occasion, a large crowd to venerate the relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux, the plaza outside Westminster Cathedral feeling like a miniature St Peter's Square. Even the burger van, installed for St Thérèse's three-day visit, is decked out in episcopal purple.

I start queueing to commune with the relics at 10.30. The queue zigzags across the plaza, and a steward warns me to expect an hour's wait. Entertainment is laid on in the form of a largish screen on which the faithful enthuse about Thérèse, a French nun who died of tuberculosis in 1897, aged 24. But the captions don't quite fit the screen – a fault never rectified by means miraculous or mechanical...for more click here.

Bravo, Stephen! Good for you, Bro! May her prayers win you countless blessings! In contrast, Sophia Deboick wrote in The Guardian yesterday on the phenomenom and maintained that, 'It may be popular among ordinary Catholics, but the cult of St Thérèse serves the hierarchy's political purposes well.'

In his blog post on the visit of the relics of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux to the UK this month, Andrew Brown said that "Thérèse's cult, though stimulated by her family and convent, grew among ordinary Catholics first" and even die-hard atheist commentators seem to have accepted the idea that the both the wider cult and the ongoing international tour of the remains of Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin are characterised by a spontaneous outpouring of devotion amongst the faithful. But far from being a grassroots movement, the tour has been vigorously marketed by a powerful political entity – the Catholic Church...for more (atheistic propaganda) click here.

Hmm...the Catholic Church, a 'political entity' so powerful that the UK Government ignores every piece of advice on every moral issue of the day which She offers it. Well, Sophia, I'm just a layman and I organised the pilgrimmage to Aylesford, not because my Priest told me to, but because it was obvious that other lay people wanted to go as well as myself. We had a wonderful, Grace-filled day, thanks very much! Ask your colleague Stephen about it because it sounds like he rather enjoyed it too!

Catholic Countries Surrounded by Ravenous Wolves

A Nicaraguan Catholic woman defending the Faith and the lives of the Unborn.

The Guardian today runs a piece on the 70,000 'unsafe abortions' carried out last year which resulted in maternal death, conveniently forgetting the infant deaths which also resulted from the 'unsafe abortions' and the fact that in every 'unsafe abortion' which results in maternal death, two human beings have died. The article highlights a report by the 'highly influential' Guttmacher Institute.

There is, of course, no such thing as a 'safe' abortion because it can never be safe for the unborn baby, even if it is made entirely safe for the mother. The article states that...

'The report points to a global trend towards the liberalisation of abortion laws, which has allowed women with an unwanted pregnancy to end it safely. Nineteen countries have relaxed their restrictions since 1997. But in three countries, Poland, El Salvador and Nicaragua, tougher legislation has been introduced, the latter two prohibiting abortion even when the woman's life is at risk.

"We have seen an increase in women's deaths and teenage suicides in Nicaragua," said Dr Kelly Culwell, of the International Planned Parenthood Federation at the report's launch.'

While it is deeply regrettable and tragic that women's lives have ended from either maternal death from 'unsafe abortions' or suicide in face of the prospect of child-birth, so called 'safe' abortion is not the answer. What is more, Poland, El Salvador and Nicaragua know it. These countries are staunchly Catholic and each of these governments are vehemently resistant to the demands of both the Guttmacher Insitute and Planned Parenthood.

These countries, as well as being staunchly Catholic are not backward or foolish and their resistance to legal abortion is not merely grounded in the teachings of the Church. Every country which has introduced legal abortion has also introduced a chamber of horrors into towns, townships and cities across the globe. Furthermore, each country that has rolled over to the wishes of Planned Parenthood (who, let's remember, make money out of this sordid business) has seen rates of abortion, double, then triple, then quadruple and then spiral out of control, all because each country accepted the mantra that making abortion legal saves lives.

The UK, the US and swathes of Europe testify to the fact that making abortion legal results in a massive rise in abortions, not just in cases of what these institutions would deem medical emergency or matters of 'reproductive health', but out of a state of temporal inconvenience. The UK and the US were spun this line and the result is institutionalised reproductive and maternal mayhem.

Don't believe me? Well, I understand that readers of this blog are largely Catholic but for anyone still unsure of the fruits of legal abortion, check out today's Telegraph article on an American woman who became, out of personal circumstances and chaotic personal relationships, an 'abortion addict', contracting 15 abortions in just 16 years between the age of 16 and her early 30s. What is more, she has written a book about her experiences entitled 'Impossible Motherhood: Testimony of an Abortion Addict', a book which was perhaps unsurprisingly rejected more than 50 times by publishers who were horrified by it. The person in questions says of her experiences, and I quote:

"My story is a perversion of both maternal desire and abortion, framed by a lawful procedure that I abused. By the time I lay in an abortion clinic waiting for the procedure to begin, I would feel nothing but disgust and shame. When I left the clinic, I felt a calm respite, surrender. I always said to myself then "This has to end."

"This has to end." There are no 'safe' abortions and, as extreme an example as this woman's life is, it serves well to demonstrate just how ill-conceived the idea of introducing legal abortion to countries whose Catholic populations have set their faces against it really is. Poland, El Salvador, Nicaragua and every country that resists the march of the 'reproductive health' lobby must be supported. C-Fam consistently highlights the global push for abortion by powerful and 'highly influential' lobbyists and institutes. John Smeaton of the Society for Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC) campaigns vociferously against these developments also. These are not just voices of Catholicism. They are the voices of Reason in a World suffering from its tragic love affair with the Culture of Death. These countries, these Catholic countries, must be protected from the ravenous wolves that surround them.